Fau Program Reduces Admission Test Influence

April 21, 1985|By Robert McClure, Staff Writer

Two southeast Florida universities are among a limited number of U.S. schools participating in a research project designed to de-emphasize standardized tests such as the SAT as a criterion for admission to college.

Boca Raton-based Florida Atlantic University, along with Florida International University in Dade County, is beginning to look into ``student potential projections,`` a system of predicting a student`s chance of success in college through a structured interview designed to measure 15 basic competencies.

Interviews last about an hour. The indicators used to predict success include persistence, restraint, planning skills, persuasiveness and self-confidence, said Elizabeth Bedell, special studies coordinator for the state Board of Regents.

``It`s working much more effectively than we ever imagined,`` Bedell said.

Traditionally, test scores have been looked at alongside high school grades when admissions officers decide whether an applicant will be admitted to college. But some educators criticize test scores as not individualized enough and culturally biased against blacks and other groups.

FIU and FAU, along with Florida State and Florida A&M universities in Tallahassee, are participating in a program started by the Center for the Advancement of Experiential Learning in Washington. The program is paid for by a grant from the Ford Foundation.

``It`s really in large measure a response to the criticisms of evaluating students purely on the basis of a numerical score on a test,`` said Joe Wisdom, associate dean of undergraduate studies at FIU.

``Through the interview, we can find out more about an individual, his or her degree of motivation and the likelihood the student will be able to succeed. We are very optimistic about it,`` Wisdom said.

``We`re human beings too and we realize that numbers on a test don`t always measure all that a person can do.``

At FAU, officials interviewed a small number of students last year and will track them for the next few years, said Marilyn Floyd, academic affairs director. About 50 incoming students for next year will also be interviewed and tracked, she said.

``What we don`t have at this point are norms,`` Floyd said ``We don`t know what is a predictor of success.``

The College Board, the company that administers standardized tests such as the SAT and GRE, is in support of such research, said board spokesman Tom Redmon.

Redmon said his company recommends that colleges use a combination of indicators when deciding whether to admit a student: test scores, high school grades, a personal questionnaire similar to the student potential projections and a quantifiable evaluation of the student by a counselor, principal and teacher.

Admissions officers seek to predict an applicant`s likelihood of doing well in college, but that approach may have to be changed so that the person`s chance of eventual success in life is accounted for, said Board of Regents Chairman Robin Gibson.

``The point at which we are to succeed: Does it include success in school or is it broader?`` Gibson asked.

Eventually, said university system Chancellor Barbara Newell, the interviews could prove to be an important tool in increasing the proportion of blacks who make it through college. She pointed out that Florida`s ``retention rate`` has increased markedly faster for blacks than for white students in recent years.

``I think we may want to spend some time on what the really significant factors are for the students who do make it,`` she said.

Floyd said the qualities researchers are trying to measure were first discovered by psychological researchers in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Examinations of people considered high achievers in the business world identified 15 qualities they were likely to have, she said.

``Two to three years ago, we became interested in whether these characteristics would lead to success in the academic setting,`` she said.

Regent Frank Scruggs of Miami said he is in favor of allowing universities to come up with their own mix of admissions criteria, possibly including the interviews. But he said follow-up studies to see how well the students fare are imperative.

``We are not going to retreat into the foggy world of wanting to do better, but not being able to measure how well we do,`` Scruggs said.